Monday, December 14, 2009

It is official. As of this weekend, I have officially moved (and without incident oh please for the love of all things holy don't let me get jinxed for saying that) from blogspot to my own domain, http://www.letshaveacocktail.com. If you are reading this, you found it. All you have to do is update your links. Easy breezy. Thanks Blogger. I heart you.

It was by far the easiest move I have ever done. Because let's be candid, almost every other kind of moving, well, fills most people with contempt. The packing and unpacking which requires you to handle every single possession you own, oh, I am not a fan.

Because I am fully Type A (large font, bold, upper case Type A) dislike disorganization of most varieties, I will labor like a dervish to have every single box unpacked and all contents placed in their appropriate location in one day. Bet on it.

When I finished law school, I discovered the most awesome technique for packing your entire house and moving: Get your older brother to do it. (Thanks again Tumble). When I offered my paltry help to put the boxes in the moving truck we rented, he only advised me to stand back as he packed that vehicle with all the precision of a engineer. MIT would be proud.

However, my brother was not always present to assist. If he was, I could have avoided a debacle. Many years ago, moving from one apartment to another in the same building, some friends offered to help because it was so close. So I packed up my kitchen. But because social obligations were more appealing than packing, and because my new apartment was a mere 100 yards away, I thought we could just carry things over. And by we, I mean me and these five male friends who willingly offered to ruin their morning doing manual labor ( bribes of food and alcohol notwithstanding.) Sounds like a nice suggestion until you are actually doing it.

When my friends arrived, they seem puzzled by the limited number of packed boxes until I explained my plan. Five incredulous looks welcomed me to a deep dark day of moving. I quickly offered and guaranteed monetary reward for this endeavor. It took us hours just to get the living room moved. Primarily due to my hundreds of books. And gobs of furniture. Oh. It. SUCKED.

We started in the early am and by late afternoon, we had hours to go. At least we had music. Isn't moving more fun with Sir Mix-a-lot? Slightly. Finally, several of us decided to take a pause. One friend, Dr. J, came in the new place, saw us, and asked what we were doing. As we were laughing over some anecdote, I said we were taking a break. To which Dr. J responded. "THERE ARE NO BREAKS ON MOVING DAY! GET THE ______ UP!" Scared straight into obedience, I was most surprised because at no time prior (nor since) have I ever heard Dr. J use the F word. Moving, it brings out the best in everyone.

We finally finished around midnight marking the moment I would never again exploit friends for this hideous task. Cold cash much more effective than pizza and six packs of Sam Adams. Professionals much more effective than your friends who will hate you if you ask them to help you move again.

And a few months ago, JohnnyMac was out with some of his pals. One friend, moving from the suburbs to the city, solicited their help in his chore. Several unwilling friends offered up the bad back or bad knee syndrome. JohnnyMac who quite possibly dislikes the task of moving more than me, looked at him and said, "No bad back excuse needed. NO. And aren't you 40? In a non-emergency situation? Hire movers. "

75 comments:

Yeah, we learned years ago that 'just ask if you need help moving'...is not an actual invitation for them to HELP. lol. Movers are def the way to go. Plus, if something breaks, you're covered. :) Happy Move!

i almost must not rest until every last item has been placed lovingly in its new home. so when i moved into this current apartment, and i didn't have the proper shelving units, and i had boxes sitting for SEVERAL DAYS, i almost lost it.

As a person who has just gone through a move less than three months ago, I'll give a TRIPLE AMEN to that. This was by far our easiest move since we had packers, movers and a per diem for each day that we were living in a non-home. It's the only way to go!

When we moved from Texas, I hired two college students to help move the couch and boxes. Of course, we had everything packed already, so it only took three hours. The wife wouldn't let me contribute to the delinquency of minors by buying them beer, so it was pizza, soda, and ice cream. Plus a 24-pack of Budweiser "left" in the back stairwell of the apartment building. I distracted the missus so they could make off with the real prize.

If I'd been asked how they came into its possession, "Sir, we're moving. I left a box of food sitting by an open college campus doorway. That was my mistake because when I went to retrieve the box, the food was there, but the beer was gone. In the grand scheme of things, it's not that important to me, so I did not feel the need to report it since nothing else was taken."

The books are a problem here as well. I have soooo many. Only not nearly as many as I did right after our last move.

When we moved into our last house, hubby put a shit ton of my books in boxes in the unfinished part of our basement. They stayed there for a while and I was busy unpacking other things. But then the rain came. ANd alas, we had no sump pump. We figured out quickly that we needed to put one in---but not before hundreds of my books were ruined by the water.

I always hire movers now that I'm in my late 30s. When I was younger, it was all well and good to call friends over and watch them flake one by one but I just don't have the patience for that crap anymore, nuh uh.

I also hate disorganization and am the type of person to stay up until all hours of the night unpacking my house.

For a period of about 14 years I had 12 different addresses, I quickly burned out friends and family so I ended up doing a lot of my moves myself or with a mover, they aren't as expensive as you'd think, that is a big lesson I learned! Save your relationships and hire a mover.

That would have been such a tedious move, piece by piece even if just down the hall. I hate moving, I mean I like it once I'm there and everything is unpacked but count me out, I'm only up to this task about once every 10 years!

I have the perfect way to move. Spread it out over a year. A piece of furniture now and then, a few boxes. Really, it's painless. I walked into the city house about a month ago, looked around and exclaimed...damn, we've moved. the only stuff still there is the stuff we are leaving there.

I moved almost ever year from the ages of 7 to 16. It sucked! That said, even though my "responsibility" was only my bedroom, I was a professional packer and unpacker. And I'd stay up all night long to unpack and get everything just right.

Glad your move (this one) went better than the one by one bit of your past. I didn't have to much trouble with it when I moved mine to a dot com either, but tweaking it just right is where I still struggle.Cheers,C

I've moved twice this year (long story) and my parents have moved twice this year (another long story). Packing and unpacking for 4 different moves has almost been the death of me. I will always remember 2009 for this reason (sadly).

I hate moving, but I like the process of going through everything and throwing things away. I am not an organized person by any means, and moving is the one thing that will make me get things together.

Hire movers? Absolutely? Hire PACKERS? Absolutely not. Doing so is how we managed to leave our power washer in Seattle but keep the snow scraper. Which would have been fine, except for the fact that we were moving to the Caribbean, where it almost never, ever snows, but where the black mold will cover every square inch of your house within 48 hours of your having power-washed it off.

Oh, and they kindly packed all of my shoes except for the ones on my feet. Packed them into boxes for three months' of storage!!

I'd rather gnaw off my left foot with my own teeth than move...I despise it! I've hired movers once to pack and move my things across the country. When I was unpacking, I found the contents of my panty drawer mixed in with my silverware!

oh moving day... i've moved three times in the past year, and have at least one more move to look forward to in the next year. moving SUCKS. but when you're in your new place and you've unpacked all your stuff and organized it exactly the way you want it (i also have to do this in one day) then it's exhilarating. and that, i love.

When we moved (for convenience) a few years ago my (el cheapo) husband said to me, "I'm just going to ask the guys to help out."Um, yeah, that's how I want to move with a 3 year old and 6 month old in tow. Obviously, I just called the movers myself!

After 3 years in our current residence, I just ordered checks with our "new" address. Yes, I have been using checks with the old address from another state for the past 3+ years. As my husband pointed out, ordering checks is a foreshadowing of one event for us - we will most likely be moving before I get through the first 25 checks!

Congrats on your super easy "move." IRL, I have moved about a gajillion times. My dad was in the Navy while I was growing up, so we moved all the time. I went to college and after Mr. HH and I were married, HE joined the Army. Fortunately, they hire movers to pack and unpack (yay!), but they DON'T have people to paint walls, hang pictures, arrange furniture and put crap away. Oh, how that sucks. To date, Mr. HH and I have moved 12 times (including 4 cross town moves) in the almost 15 years we've been married. Oh, and 5 of those moves have been trans-Atlantic. Ugh!

Oh my gosh, just to word move makes me want to hyperventilate now. I am a TERRIBLE mover. Esp with MacGyver in the picture because I am like you with unpacking, but he is NOT. Once the boxes are in the house, he's done. Ugh. Nervous breakdown.

And how wonderful that Johnny Mac had the backbone and fortitude to stand there and tell his friend the way it is. No excuses needed. Good for him. We recently sold our beloved old pickup. The ONLY reason I was glad to see her go was the fact that now, we won't be so readily involved in everyone's moving plans. Or at least not instantly thought of. ;-)

Congratulations on the move.. Ok where did you move too? Are you still doing all your post through blogger? I'm thinking about moving to Wordpress right now. I just found out that Blogger could just delete your blog if it is on their platform.

oh my word. I moved in August and had law school friends help me and it was a disaster. Because any type of moving is horrible and because, let's face it, law-types aren't really much for spatial reasoning...if we were, we'd be engineers. I vowed that I wasn't going to move for at least 2 years (it'll take me that long to forget how much I hate it) and that when I do? Professional movers are a must. A MUST.

Oh man, it's crazy that you should bring up how much moving sucks. My fiance and I are going out of town to get married on the 28th of this month and then moving into our first house immediately upon our arrival back home. The excitement of becoming his wife and buying our first home together is overcoming the dread of moving right now, but I also haven't started packing yet...

Oh, but I just don't trust professional movers! I have a friend who works for a moving company and another who works for a company for the moving company to fix all the furniture they damage in the move. Their horror stories are enough to make me suck it up and move myself.